Starbucks to build 10,000 ‘greener’ stores by 2025

Starbucks announced Thursday in which the item is usually deepening its commitment to sustainability which has a plan to build 10,000 “greener stores” around the globe by 2025, a move in which will encompass brand new stores along with renovations.

The plan follows the coffee giant’s pledge to eliminate single-use plastic straws coming from its stores around the globe by 2020.

Starbucks plans to audit its company-owned stores inside U.S. along with Canada. Since 2001, the item has been working with the U.S. Green Building Council to help develop the LEED for Retail program, opening up its first LEED, or green-certified store, more than a decade ago. Today there are more than 1,500 LEED-certified Starbucks stores globally.

“Woven into the fabric of Starbucks is usually the view in which the pursuit of profits is usually not in conflict with the pursuit of doing Great,” CEO Kevin Johnson said in a call with CNBC. “We have been on a sustainability journey for many years, the item starts with the way we grow our coffee to the work we do with LEED-certified stores, to the work we do around greener cups along with plastic straws. Today’s announcement extends in which to go beyond a LEED-certified store along with will focus on operating those stores in a more sustainable way.”

The move will save Starbucks some $50 million in utility costs over the next decade, building on its current 10-year legacy of utility cost savings generated coming from its green practices already in place. Those steps save the item some $30 million annually in operating costs, the company said.

Starbucks’ plans are being developed in concert with experts coming from the planet Wildlife Fund, along with will be audited along with verified by SCS Global Services, which oversees Starbucks’ Coffee along with Farmer Equity Practices. The materials will also be shared so additional retailers can follow suit, Starbucks said.

“This kind of framework represents the next step in how Starbucks is usually approaching environmental stewardship, looking holistically at stores along with their role in helping to ensure the future health of our natural resources,” said Erin Simon, director of R&D at World Wildlife Fund, U.S., in a Discharge. “When companies step up along with demonstrate leadership, additional businesses often follow with commitments of their own, driving further positive impacts.”

Starbucks has long been committed to sustainability with initiatives including 99 percent ethically sourced coffee, its pledge to develop along with help bring to market a fully recyclable along with compostable hot cup, along with offering discounts to customers who bring in reusable cups or tumblers at its company-owned stores globally, among others.